This weekend, the conflict in Afghanistan enters its second decade; more than a year ago it surpassed Vietnam as America’s longest war.

According to a recent CBS poll, 34% of the American public thinks that US troops should continue to fight the war in Afghanistan and 57% thinks the US should no longer be involved. That’s in stark contrast to a November 2001 Gallup poll that found 91% public approval for US troops in Afghanistan. However, Americans also thought the deployment would be short. In December 2001, 47% told Gallup they thought the fighting would last for just a few months.

The war in Afghanistan seemed much simpler a decade ago. From the White House on Oct. 7, 2001, President George W. Bush stated: “To all the men and women in our military . . . I say this: Your mission is defined; your objectives are clear; your goal is just. You have my full confidence, and you will have every tool you need to carry out your duty.”

But it turns out the US mission didn’t have everything it needed. The Defense Department spent $20 billion on the war in its first year; the State Department spent less than $1 billion. In 2003, the Bush administration, assuming the Taliban was severely weakened, decreased overall spending by 29%.

Early success in Afghanistan was just a veneer. As the Taliban returned and Afghanistan’s deep complexities surfaced, policy makers scrambled to revise their strategy and steadily increased funding, capping it at $59.5 billion in the final year of the Bush administration. In December 2009, President Obama heightened spending on Afghanistan to $118.5 billion and the troop level to almost 100,000. Simultaneously, as the war became more vivid and casualties increased, public support has eroded.

In the recent CBS poll, 69% of Americans responded that they had no idea US involvement in Afghanistan would last this long. Considering the way the war was originally imagined and sold, it’s hard to blame the public for thinking otherwise.